The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-06

Chrlsb Ohey tuuSb noI eApect siAootn sail
ing.
These disciples got into the small boats,
and | have no doubt they said; What a
beautiful day this is! What a smooth sea
What bright sky this is! How delightful
is sailing in this boat! and as for the waves
under the keel of the boat, why, they only
make the motion of our little boat the more
delightful" But when the winds swept
down, and the sea was tossed into wrath,
then they found that following Christ was
not smooth sailing. SO you have found It;
so have found it, Did you ever notice the
end of the life of the apostles of Jesus
Christi You would say if ever men ought
to have had a smooth life, a smooth depart
ure, then those men, the disciples of Jesus
Christ, ought to have had such a departure
| and such a life.
st. James lost his head. St. Philip was
hung TO death on pillar. st. Matthew
bad his life dashed out with halbert st.
Mark was dragged TO death through the
streets ST. James the Less was beaten to
death with a fuller's club st Thomas was
struck through with spear. They did not
find following Christ smooth sailing. Oh,
how they were all tossed in the tempest!
John Huss in the fire; Hugh Mckaii in the
hour of martyrdom the Albigenses, the
Waldenses, the Scotch Covenanters-did
they find it smooth sailingl
But why go to history when ! can come
into this audience to-day and find a score of
illustrations of the truth of this subject,
That young man in the store trying to serve
God, while his employer SCOTS at Christi
anity, the young men in the same
store antagonistic to the Christian
religion, teasing him, tormenting
him about his religion, trying to
him mad, saying: You're pretty Christ
ian." Does this young man find It smooth
sailing when he tries TO follow Christi Here
is Christian girl. Her father despises
the Christian religion; her mother despises
the Christian religion; her brothers and
sisters scott at the Christian religion; she
can hardly find a quiet place in which TO
say her prayers. Did she find it smooth
sailing when she tried to follow Jesus
Christi Oh, no! all who would live the life
of the Christian religion must suffer peise-
cution; if you do not find it in one way you
will get it in another way.
The question was asked: 'W no are these
nearest the throne" and the answer came
back: "These are they who came up out Of
great tribulations; great failing, as the
original has it; great failing, great pound
ing-"and had their robes washed and made
white in the blood of the Lamb" Oh, do
not be disheartenedl Oh, child of God take
courage. You are in glorious companion
ship. God will see you through all those
trials, and He will deliver you.
My subject also impresses me with the
fact that good people sometimes get very
much frightened.
In the tones of these disciples as they
rushed into the back part of the boat, find
they are frightened almost to death. They
say Master carest Thou not that we
perish" They had no reason to be fright
ened, for Christ was in the boat ] suppose
if we had been there we would have been
| just as much affrightened. Perhaps more.
| In all ages very good people get very
much affrightened. 1t is often so in our
day, and men say, "Why, look at the bad
| lectures; look at the Spritualistic societies
| look at the various errors going over the
| Church of God; we are going to founder
the church is going to perish; she is
going down" Oh, how many good people
are affrightened by iniquity in our day,
| and think the church of Jesus Christ is
going to be overthrown, and are just as
much affrightened as were disciples of my
text. Don't worry, don't fret, as though
iniqufty were going to triumph over
righteousness
A lion goes into a cavern to sleep. He
lies down, with his shaggy name covering
the paws. Meanwhile the spiders spin a
web across the mouth of the cavern, and
say: "We have captured him." Gossamer
| thread after gossaner thread is spun until
the whole front of the cavern is covered
with the spiders web, and the spiders say:
THE lion is done; the lion is fast" After a
while the lion has got through sleeping; he
| rouses himself, he shakes his name, he
walks out into the sunlight; he does not
even know the spiders web is spun. and
with his voice he shakes the mountain.
So men come spinning their sophistries
and sl1epticism about Jesus Christ. He
seems TO be sleeping. They say: 1--WE have
captured the Lord; He will never come
forth again upon the nation; Christ is cap
tured forever. His religion will never make
any conquest among mon" But after
awhile the lion of the tribe of Judah will
rouse himself and come forth TO shake
nightly the nations. What's a spiders
web to the aroused lions Give truth and
error fair grapple, and truth will come off
victor
But there are great many good people
who get affrightened in other respects; they
are affrightened in our day about revivals.
They say: "Ohl this is a strong religious
gale; we are afraid the Church of God is
going to be upset. and there are going to be
a great many people brought into the
church that are going TO be of no use to it"
and they are affrightened whenever they
see a revival taking hold of the churches.
AS though ship captain with five thou
sand bushels of wheat for a cargo should say,
some day, coming upon deck Throw
overheard all cargo and the sailors should
say: why, Captain, what do you mean.
Throw over all the cargo" "Oh, says the
Captain, 'we have a peck of chaff that has
got into this five thousand bushels of wheat,
and the only way 10 get rid of the chaff is
TO throw all the wheat overheard" Now,
that is great deal wiser than the talk of a
great many Christians who want to throw
overheard all the thousands and tens Of
thousands of souls who are the subjects Of
revivals. Throw all overheard because they
are brought into the Kingdom OF God
through great revivals, because there il a
peck Of chaf, quart of chaf, pint Of
chaf say. let them stay until the Last
Day; the Lord will divide tho chaff from the
wheat
DO not be afraid of a great revival.
Oh, that these gales from heaven might
sweep through all our churches! Oh, for
such days as Richard Baxter saw in Eng
land aud Robert McCheyne saw in Dundee!
Oh, for such days as Jonathan Edwards
saw in Northampton | have often heard
my father tell Of the fact that in the early
part ofNhs century a revival broke out at
Somerville, N. j., and some people were
very much agitated about it. They said:
"Oh, you are going TO bring too many peo-
pie into the church at once, and they sent
down 10 New Brunswick TO get John Liv-
ingston 10 stop the revival.
Well, there was no better soul in all the
world than John Livingston. He went and
looked at the revival; they wanted him 30
stop IT, He stood in the pulpit on the Sab